Kalayna Price

This weekend I will be attending ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC. This is a great little fantasy convention that is close enough to be considered 'local' (and give broke me the option of daytriping.) I attended last year with Tori and Darlene , and we had a great time, so I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Recently, I've noticed that my views on conventions have changed. In past years, I've gone to cons hoping to learn lots of new cool stuff. While I still hope to learn stuff, the reason I'm looking forward to this con is to connect and see in person writer friends I usually only talk to online. What a change! Among the people I am excited to see are these very cool women (and wonderful writers) Marcia Colette , Misty Massey, and Faith (Gwen) Hunter . If you are near the Charlotte area, you should definitely check out ConCarolinas . HB2 Progress: (I'm getting there!) 79840 / 90000 words. 89% done!

The title of this post is a bit misleading, as 1) I don’t drink coffee and 2) I want to talk about how useful mornings can be. Yes, you read that correctly. I said mornings can be useful . Now, before going any further, I would like to point out that I am not a morning person. Given half the opportunity, I revert to a schedule where I sleep through most of those pesky morning hours. My 9 to 5 doesn’t give me that opportunity. (Why do they call it a 9 to 5 anyway? I have to be here at 8:30. . . ) Usually my mornings consist of me staring at my alarm clock, willing the time not to go by so I don’t have to go to work. When I finally get up (late) I have to bustle to get to work (still late) then I drag myself through the rest of the morning. If you’ve been following my twitter feed, you know that I recently moved. This move turned a 45 minute commute to work every morning into five minutes. I could sleep those extra forty minutes (or stare at the clock) and probably would have, but with ...

(x-posted from the Tri Mu Blog . I don’t think anyone would disagree that goals are important, but I think a lot of people discount the value of rewards. Writing a book is accomplished one word at a time with a final goal of telling a complete story. One could argue that the reward is having a finished book at the end, but honestly (at least for me) writing the first draft is far from having a ‘complete’ project. I’m a fan of smaller rewards along the path of the writing progress. Also of smaller goals. I’m a procrastinator with time management issues, so having set goals (and dangling rewards) gets me writing. Some days, if I’m really struggling, the goals are small and the rewards disproportionally large. I would never suggest complete overkill, like a piece of chocolate cake every 100 words--not only would you be the size of a house by the time you finish a 90k manuscript, but you’d be sick to your stomach before the first turning point. But, if I’m having a really bad day, I might ...

Throughout the first draft of HB2, I’ve had trouble with one of my characters refusing to talk to me. This character has been suffering major behavior and emotional changes from scene to scene as I’ve forced him to participate (when he obviously has had no interest at all.) A couple of scenes he has clicked in, but more often than not he falls flat on the page or acts in a manner completely out of character. This is problematic to say the least, but it is a first draft, which is basically the same as the early rehearsals when the actors still have scripts in their hands and miss most of their cues. Later drafts will be ‘dress rehearsals’, and we are still a long way from ‘opening night’. There is still time for him to fill in his role and bloom into a real character. So, for now, I’ll let him mumble his lines and refuse to take blocking cues. The next draft though . . . Despite a noncommunicative character, progress is moving right along. I have just over a week to meet my goal, which...

In the past, I've often set goals for when I wanted to complete a piece of writing. The key word in that sentence is wanted . Up until recently, I haven't had an hard deadlines in my writing career. Things have changed. The first book in my contract is due in October of this year. After that, I have books due every year until 2013. I have deadlines now. Real deadlines. Which means I probably need to spend more effort making sure I meet my imaginary deadlines. I have one coming up soon. I'm supposed to finish the first draft of HB2 by June 3rd. It's not a hard deadline, but it's the goal I set for myself, so I'm pushing for it. (Not to mention that week is SIMS 3 is released and if I want to squeeze in some guilt free playing, the two weeks while I let the draft sit are the perfect time. Also, fellow Tri Mu Sarah has threatened to taunt me with game facts if she gets the game first and I am still writing--yes we are geeks.) So, I have about 13 days to finish ...

(X posted from the Tri Mu blog .) When I was teenager, I was a member of a ballet company. One of my teachers was once told me that a ballerina could go three, maybe four days without practice, but every day after that, she was less of a dancer. I took her words to heart, maintaining a rigorous class and training schedule along with my rehearsal and performance schedule. When I stopped dancing, I felt what she meant as my muscles and flexibility suffered. What does this story have to do with writing? Well, I think my teacher’s advice can be applied to writing as well. Writers write, and if you spend a large gap of time not writing, you become less of a writer. Writing might not take hours of training and practice to build strength and flexibility, but writing regularly does develop skill and voice. It also builds a routine (even if your writing time isn’t set) and encourages the muse to make daily visits. I think most people know someone who can tell a pretty good story. This person ...

You probably remember my teasing post a couple weeks ago about something big in the horizon. Well, I am finally ready for the big reveal . . . I have signed a contract for five more books with Bell Bridge Books! At least four of the books in the contract will be in the Haven series, so if you enjoyed ONCE BITTEN , look for Kita and Nathanial to be back in a new book this Winter! More news to come soon, so check back.

I'm starting to think my post office has something against me. Mailing a package should be a simple process, and my stress should be over what is in the package, not how it is getting to its destination, right? Well, this week, that hasn't been the case. (Edit: Not that the stress over what is in the package was missing. I've just had extra stress with shipping.) I had an important package I needed to ship this week. I'm accustomed to shipping manuscripts and books at this point, so I know the whole 16 oz rule (in which any package weighing over a certain amount has to be shipped from the post office.) So, early this week, I walked up to my local post office and shipped my package. The meter wasn't working, so the woman at the desk sold me stamps--which in hindsight, I should have taken as a warning. Anyway, I didn't, but I did feel insecure enough to pay extra to track the package. I'm glad I did. My very important package floated in nowhere-space for a w...

(X-posted from the Tri Mu Blog ) Voice is one of those frustrating parts of writing that you either have, or have yet to develop. There is no magic formula to finding your voice. You just have to write, and write, and write, until your voice transforms into something that is yours . What is voice? Well, it is not only what you say, but also how you say it. Voice is your word order. It is your punctuation. Your paragraphing. It is what determines how the reader "hears" your words in their head. When I was a teenager, I wrote mostly high fantasy. (I didn't finish said high fantasy novels, but that's a different story.) These grand adventure stories where all told from the third person point of view and often contained several view point characters. (Third person POV uses the pronouns 'He/She/It', for those readers who might be unfamiliar.) During my many years of crafting these tales, I never truly developed my voice. Oh, I'm sure I started, and every wr...

Reviews have been trickling in here and there since Once Bitten was released, but I wanted to point out a couple that brightened my day recently. Kristy Bock with Parapormalromance.org said: "For every bit of danger there is a balance of humor. Kita is a character that will go on living in the memory of the readers. She's not your every day house cat! This was just a perfect adventure to escape the confines of reality for a little while." ( Read More ) Mandi with Smexy Books Said: "One of the best aspects of this book is that Kalayna Price leaves you asking (maybe begging a bit) for more." ( Read More ) J. Kay with J. Kay's Book Blog said: "This dark fantasy is tinged with humor that will curl your toes in delight. ONCE BITTEN is book one of the Haven series. Although it has a solid ending, readers will be left begging for more." ( Read More ) Thanks everyone! Glad you enjoyed it. ^_^ (If you've reviewed Once Bitten, I'd love a link to ...

I'm going on a research field trip this weekend. A research trip some might consider rather bizarre. As I've probably mentioned in earlier posts, the second book in my Haven series will delve deeper into my vampire society. Consequently, this means more scenes set in vamp businesses such as the club Death's Angel (which was briefly visited in Once Bitten.) I have a good picture in my head of what Death's Angel looks like and what type of clientele are likely to frequent the club, but immersion in unique scenes and settings is always useful. When a friend mentioned planning to attend a fetish dance/rave occurring in a neighboring city, I quickly volunteered to go with. So, a handful of us will be making a night of it. I've dug out my big black boots and my corset top, I created a dreadfall headpiece, and I borrowed makeup in colors I haven't worn in years--I think I'm ready. I've been to parties in the past, but I get the feeling this will be like nothin...

(x-posted on the Tri Mu Blog ) This is not the post I had planned for yesterday. In fact, the last twenty-four hours have been completely unplanned and a little on the insane side. After a couple months of all things in my personal sphere of the publishing world being rather silent, a symphony orchestra playing Beethoven's 5th symphony showed up yesterday afternoon. Is this good news? Oh yes. But it is still rather startling. Out of nowhere there are things to consider. There is a scramble to accomplish a lot all at once (because, of course, everything needs to be done now .) There are people to contact, decisions to make, and my heart seems to be one beat behind and struggling to catch up. By the middle of next week, I'm sure this will all be over. Even right now, there are waves in which I am bustling followed by what feels like a drawn out period in which I'm waiting. That's just the way it goes with publishing (in my experience.) This is the hurry up and wait of...

If you follow my twitter, you've probably noticed that things have been crazy in my parts recently. I traveled for the last part of last week/ first part of this week, which did a number on my wordcount. (Writing while traveling is rather hit or miss.) But, HB2 is moving right along. I've passed the first turning point now, and I'm currently completely immersed in a subplot (there will be some cutting back of what is on the page with this one.) Things are quickly spiraling from bad to worse for Kita and gang, and unfortunately for Kita, things will only be getting more complicated for her. She has a lot of hard decisions to make in this book, decisions that will really force her to stretch herself and mature. She hasn't completely rebelled and walked off the page yet, so I'm counting that as good. ^_~ Current wordcount: 34002 / 90000 words. 38% done!

(X-Posted from the Tri Mu Blog .) Last week I leaned on the group hard. As a whole, I believe in writing a first draft in a void. I like getting the story all on paper fast, and then going back and seeing what I have later (and fixing the massive issues that are likely to be there.) But, recently I’ve been stuck in a never ending scene. When I started writing the scene, I loved it. Then somewhere I lost hold of the scene and it spiraled out of control. I knew where it had to go, but the characters weren’t doing what I wanted—or anything productive, for that matter—and I was getting bogged down. My instinct in such a situation is to briefly summarize what needs to happen in the scene and move on. Doing so surely would have been better for my wordcount, but this particular scene was the first major turning point, and while the core of my story is planned out, many points hinged on how I handled this scene. So, I did something I’ve never done before—I sent 1k of the raw first draft to my...

I don't usually link to lots of news, but some really exciting things have crossed my inbox and twitter feed over the last few days. For starters, many of you probably heard back in January that the amazing fantasy magazine, Realms of Fantasy, was closing . The announcement marked a sad day for many, myself included. I'm a long time reader of the magazine, and always intended to submit a short story (but I don't write a lot of short fiction, so never did.) Well, I found out today that Tir Na Nog Press purchased RoF earlier this month! They are not yet open to fiction submissions, but the magazine will return in July. Welcome back Realms of Fantasy ! In other, completely unrelated news, the Knight agency is currently running a cool contest for unagented writers called Book in a nutshell . The challenge it to write a compelling 'query/pitch' in only three sentences (150 words.) Twenty of the best queries will be requested by agents at the Knight agency, and feedback...

I've been trying to blog regularly, but I totally failed at that goal last week. I didn't post once on my personal blog, though I did post about why I keep a scrap file over at the Tri Mu blog. Speaking of the Tri Mu blog, we are in the process of revamping the site. We added two new members at the beginning of the year and created a new (and much improved) blogging schedule, so a new look was also in order. I designed the newest layout (see the image at the right) and worked out the coding over the course of the last week or so. We are still creating some of the content, but the site is now live and coming along nicely. So check it out and let us know what you think! (It's been a lot of fun, and we had a 'Tri Mu picture day' yesterday. You can see some of the images at the site, but I'll post more here in the coming days, so stop back by soon.) Other than my work with the Tri Mu, I haven't felt very accomplished recently. I spent several days extremely i...

This weekend wasn't as productive as I would have liked. I always hope weekends will be my chance to pull ahead, after all, they are theoretically less busy than the chaotic work week. But, alas, I fell behind instead of pulling ahead. It was my own fault. I should know by now that I am always busy. I seriously need to utilize my time better. But, hope is not lost. During my lunch hour I finished the last scene in chapter 2. The next chapter includes a scene I love and can't wait to write, and then the chapter after that (I think) introduces a new character to the series who is one of my favorite secondary characters in the book. So, hopefully the next couple chapters will fly off my fingers. That said, sometimes the scenes I look forward to most take the longest because ideas get lost between the picture in my head and the keyboard, and I struggle to get the scene right . Does that ever happen to anyone else? Well, wish me luck. I'm supposed to cross 10k tonight, but I...

Wow, it's already Thursday and the fifth day in March. There is so much going on right now that I feel like I'm behind on everything. But, I'm right on target with my word count. I haven't done my writing for the day yet (darn day job getting in the way) but I'm moving along in my gradual crawl, so I should cross the 5% mark. Okay, its not a grand mile marker, but it's progress! Word Count for HB2: 4,167 / 90,000 (4.6%)

This weekend I attended the SC Book Festival. I have been going to this particular festival regularly for the last three or four years, and I always enjoy it. This is a readers festival, not a writing conference, so I don't go expecting to learn much (though this time I did pick up some grisly details about decaying bodies from an author who co-writes with the man who started the body farm.) But, I do usually come home with a new writer (or, at least, new to me) to read. This year I went to a panel with the very interesting J. T. Ellison , and I will definitely be looking for her thrillers next time I stop by the bookstore. In other news, the the Tri Mu started a writing challenge this weekend. We had planned to have a writing challenge at some point later this year, but as I need HB2 written sooner rather than later, NLBerger recently discovered a shiny she couldn't wait to write, and Tori needed a push to finish her WIP, we moved up the date. My goal during this challenge i...

(X-posted from the Tri Mu blog .) Okay, so lets say you have a 100k word story full of snappy dialogue, compelling characters, and action scenes that keep the reader on the edge of her seat (or maybe you just worked out the idea and need to write a proposal.) Now, distill it into a two page synopsis. Oh, but while you are pulling out your hair trying to turn 100,000 words into a mere 500, remember to make sure your voice still comes through. Oh, and show the full progression of the plot. And make sure the reader gets a feel for your character. And your motivations should be clear. And watch out for leaps of logic. And... Wait! If you can't tell, I'm not a big fan of writing synopses. I bang my head on the keyboard, a lot, and once the delete key is permanently imprinted into my forehead, I still have more words/lines/ideas to tighten so that I can create a snapshot long version of my plot. Recently, I have been surrounded by synopses. I wrote one three weeks ago for my 'p...